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Mobile phone companies are facing new legal action from brain tumor
victims in the United States, Britain's Times of London has reported.
According to the paper, Peter Angelos, a US lawyer who recently
helped win $4.2 billion in damages
from the tobacco industry, is planning to launch 10 claims against
handset manufacturers, mobile network operators and fixed-line phone
companies.
The news comes amid continued concern among some mobile phone users
that radiation from handsets could cause brain tumors.
In a separate case, a Maryland neurologist filed an $800 million
lawsuit against handset maker Motorola Inc. in August as well
as eight other telecommunications companies and organizations, claiming
that his use of cellphones caused a malignant brain tumor.
For a successful campaign, the lawyers are likely hoping that a
court would grant them access to mobile companies' internal documents
and that they will be able to get experts to testify of possible
dangers.
A US study published this month concluded there did not appear
to be any link, though it said more research was needed into the
impact of long-term use of mobile phones.
However, the study by the American Health Foundation was funded
in part by a research group established by the cellular telephone
industry, which put more than $28 million into a blind escrow account
for the group to finance research.
The newspaper reports that Angelos, who fought the tobacco industry
in Maryland, plans to launch two claims against the mobile phone
companies before March, and the remaining seven or eight within
a year.
If these companies knew about the dangers of cellphone radiation
they should be punished and they should be punished dearly: not
only for what they did to the public, but for the billions
of pounds of profits they made.
The Times (London), December
28, 2000
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